Page created: 26-Feb-04

Re-published: 1-Nov-09

When I first bought the vehicle, the storage bin and speaker housing on the inside of the rear door were both damaged - it appeared that the door had been slammed against something being carried in the back. I decided to remove them completely and replace the rear door trim with a specially shaped piece of aluminium chequer plate. I originally fixed this to the door with self-tapping screws but more recently I've replaced these with rivnuts and 4mm Allen head bolts, which makes removing and re-fixing the panel for maintenance access easier.

I bought the panel that I've fitted 2nd hand, but it originally came from a company called Servicetune. They've now changed their name to Rebel 4x4 but they still produce this panel. Several other companies also now supply a similar panel and some supply them in different colours.

Later, I was looking for a suitable place to mount a fire extinguisher. It had to be somewhere that wouldn't get in the way or be obstructed by anything being carried and the cill of the rear windscreen seemed like the obvious place. Its' bracket is fixed to the door with rivnuts and because it's behind the spare wheel it doesn't obscure any of the rear view.

The extinguisher itself is a 2kg genuine Land Rover model that I picked up very cheaply at a Sodbury Sortout.

To the outside of the door I've added a ladder to provide access to the roof rack and a spare wheel cover. 

The ladder is a Genuine Parts accessory and fits very neatly onto the door. The kit that comes with it includes all the necessary fixings and comprehensive fitting instructions. The only slightly fiddly element to fitting concerns the position of the two lower feet, which clash with the top of the number plate. To resolve this I chose to cut two notches from the top corners of the plate so that the ladder feet can sit flush onto the door skin. I've also seen this problem solved by repositioning the plate slightly lower down but it then tends to partially obscure the 'Discovery' badge below, which I don't think looks right.

The only aspect of the ladder that I don't like is the size of the rungs. Whilst strong enough, they are incredibly thin and don't provide very stable footing. I've recently added some non-slip grit tape to them to make them a bit more user friendly although I might at some point change it for one of the aftermarket ones that are now available as these seem to have larger rungs.

The spare wheel cover, apart from providing a handy place for some stickers, protects the tyre from damage by ultra violet light.